On Tuesday, a medical source has confirmed that at least 17 were killed in an attack on a suburb near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum.
Witnesses attribute the attack to the Rapid Support Forces.
Eyewitnesses in Wad Madani (200 kilometers south of Khartoum) reported that the Rapid Support Forces fired shells at the Al-Karari neighborhood in Omdurman, one of the northwestern suburbs.
A medical source informed French Press Agency (AFP) about the death of 17 civilians in the attack.
Since the conflict erupted on April 15th, the clashes between the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo have claimed around 7,500 lives, according to the latest figures from the non-governmental organization ACLED.
Other medical and field sources suggest the actual toll could be higher, especially due to communication breakdowns in several areas and both warring parties’ reluctance to disclose their losses.
On Tuesday in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stated, “Last week, more than 103 civilians were killed in military operations carried out by both sides in Khartoum and Omdurman.”
Activists report that 12 bodies remain unidentified, and volunteers have been burying them. Similar cases have arisen with individuals killed on the streets, whose families couldn’t locate them.
Türk emphasized, “There’s no ceasefire in sight,” pointing to the horrors reported by civilians, including “accounts of individuals from the same family being killed or raped, relatives arbitrarily detained, loved ones missing, and bodies piled up, along with continuous despair and hunger.”
The ongoing battles, resulting in nearly five million internally displaced persons and refugees, have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Türk called for the accountability of those responsible for violations like “widespread arbitrary detentions,” noting that hundreds and possibly thousands are secretly detained in appalling conditions.
